OSHA Probes Death of Worker Pinned Between Machines at Steel Plant
- A worker died Sept. 29 after becoming pinned between two door machines while working at the Cleveland-Cliffs coke plant in Monessen, Pa., according to the Westmoreland County Coroner’s Office.
- The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating, and an autopsy will be performed to determine the cause and manner of death.
- Monessen Police Chief Dave Yuhasz said the circumstances remain under investigation.
- The Monessen facility, located along the Monongahela River, is a conventional coke plant producing furnace coke and related carbon byproducts, including two coke batteries, a byproducts recovery plant, boiler operations, a wastewater treatment facility and a barge unloading facility.
Two Workers Injured in Explosion During Gas Line Testing
- Two workers were injured on Sept. 28 when an explosion occurred outside the Design District Factory Apartments in Dallas while a contractor was testing a gas line, according to Dallas Fire-Rescue.
- Both workers were taken to the hospital, and one remains in critical condition, while the other was treated for minor injuries and released.
- Atmos Energy said the testing process involved air rather than natural gas, and confirmed service to the area was not affected and no natural gas pipelines were damaged.
- The incident occurred at the same apartment complex where a gas leak forced a building-wide evacuation on Sept. 18 after crews inspecting an unrelated fourth-floor kitchen fire discovered an active leak, requiring lines to be capped and air quality monitored before residents were allowed back inside.
Union Contacts OSHA Over ‘Unsafe School Buses’
- Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1546, which represents bus drivers employed by First Student, the private company contracted to transport students in the Zachary, Louisiana school district, has contacted OSHA over alleged maintenance problems and broken air conditioning on some buses that union president George DeCuir says have persisted for weeks.
- DeCuir said drivers who refused to operate buses they believed were unsafe have been sent home without pay, and alleged First Student agreed to post a notice informing drivers they aren’t required to operate unsafe buses but never did so.
- The union held a labor-management meeting with the location manager on Sept. 1 and requested documentation on bus conditions, which DeCuir said has still not been provided; he contrasted the situation with other transit agencies the union represents, such as CATS and LSU, where he said drivers can report unsafe buses without being sent home unpaid.
- DeCuir said many of the roughly 173 drivers at the Zachary location fear retaliation and are hesitant to formally document complaints, while the Zachary School District denied being aware of any unaddressed transportation issues and First Student provided WBRZ a statement responding to the allegations.
Report Finds Alberta’s Regulatory Failures Worsened Deadly Cargill COVID Outbreak
- A 199-page Parkland Institute report, “Essential and Expendable: How Alberta’s COVID-19 Response Failed Cargill Workers,” concluded that Alberta’s response to North America’s largest single-site pandemic outbreak systemically prioritized industry continuity over worker safety, contributing to the deaths of two employees at Cargill’s High River, Alta., beef-packing plant in 2020.
- More than 950 workers, nearly half the plant’s workforce, tested positive for COVID-19 in April and May 2020, with 18 hospitalized and two deaths.
- The report found Alberta Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) and Alberta Health Services (AHS) failed to act despite early warnings, including a union demand to suspend operations by April 12 and an internal government note by April 10 acknowledging “more drastic action” might be needed.
- A 30-minute virtual OHS inspection resulted in no compliance orders, and Cargill didn’t voluntarily suspend operations until April 20, 2020.
- The report highlighted that most affected workers were recent immigrants or temporary foreign workers facing language barriers and limited alternative income, noting Cargill’s $500 attendance bonus and temporary $2-per-hour wage increase may have encouraged symptomatic employees to keep working.